Test review

What do you do the day before a test? Do you have students complete a study guide or play a review game? I need to fill 73 minutes of a block. I never cover new material the day before a test. I’m looking to try something new for my review days, but am struggling to come up with a good idea. I’ve never really been consistent in the past with me review days, but I would like to start. I’d love any suggestions. (I teach high school science.)

One game I have done is to divide students into groups of 2-4. Give each group a different color set of post it notes.

You ask review questions (be sure to cover the essential points on the test). Each group agrees on an answer, writes it on a post it note, and delivers it to you.

When all answers are in, you put the correct post its along the bottom of the white board. You are going to make a bar graph, with a bar of each color, one per group. Toss out any incorrect answers. I make a big show of reading the answers and identifying the correct ones, explaining why erroneous answers are wrong.

Keep asking questions and posting the correct ones. Every student can see at a glance which team has the highest score. You can ask any sort of question, including math problems or even lab practicum questions. At the end of the period, the team with the high score gets a small prize (at your discretion...I usually gave out candy).

If I had 73 minutes, I would start by providing some information about the format of the test and the content covered. What knowledge, concepts, and skills must the student demonstrate on the test? Then I would have students create a study sheet...either on their own from scratch, or with scaffolding, such as a list of vocabulary, examples of problem types, and so on. I would let them use their study sheets for the game. That provides an immediate incentive for them to review the material.

I've tried doing something that I call "question in a bottle". I took questions and answers from the unit and chapter review of the textbook, printed them out, cut them, rolled them up and then put them into plastic bottles.

I then grouped students into 3s and then gave each group a bottle. They were to open it, discuss it then look at the answer. Once done, they can then swap the bottle with another group.

I think it really get the students to think about the question and work cooperatively.